Elise Thompson

Cinematographers journal
As cinematographer it was my job to work with director to create
different shots for different scenes and then construct these shots to
make up the entirety of our film. This role is in important as each
shot is representative of the director and writer vision for the film
and it is my job to ensure the shots are of a high quality, as the
editor will be depending on good quality shots to incorporate into
the production to allow continuity as fluidity.
The reason I chose to take on this role was because I work well in a
team whether as a leader or being leaded; I am able to take orders
well, which I had to from the director but I was also able to work
independently and manipulate certain shots and incorporate my
own. I also wanted to take on this role as I have not previously taken
on before and I wanted to showcase my creativity by producing
shots of varied angles, movements and compositions that would
overall helped to connote specific messages to the audience, for
example the opening shots used on the tracking dolly, which had
not been used before, allowed a steady tracking shot of Eve as she
walked through the park and saw the duetagonists allowing the
audience to later recognise where she got her different impulses
from.
Our first day of production was working on the opening sequence at
the park. For this shot we used the Canon 700D and tracking dolly,
prior to this shot myself and director Sophie went to visit the media
technician so we could see how to effectively use the equipment
(especially because the tracking dolly was a new piece of equipment
that had not previously been used before). The Canon was simple
to use and I was able to use manual focus, rule of thirds and depth
of field to connote meaning surrounding the themes of our films.
The Canon was helpful in creating high quality shots and the
tracking dolly helped us to create smooth movements to track the
characters. We continued to use the Canon 700D for the entirety of
our production, however I also booked out the shoulder rig for the
other days of filming, the shoulder rig was easy to use and allowed
me to complete steady movements such as tilts and pans.
As a group in order to be successful teamwork and communication
between us was key, we had weekly meetings in order to assess
how our coursework and production was going. As the director
attended every filming session it was easy for her to communicate
her vision to me and as the writer of Replica I was able to share my
intended connotations and together we could construct our visions. I
communicated with the editor Chloe, by transferring the SD card to
her in lessons and letting her know what we were planning to film
each session. We also made a group-chat on Whatsapp so that we
were able to communicate outside of school and lesson time.

Elise Thompson

After our second filming session doing the interior shots with all the
duetagonist, editor, Chloe advised us to re-film and we all agreed to
focus on more intimate shots in order for the audience to feel more
immersive into the characters inner emotions. So we went back and
re-filmed, changing one of the locations to a more confined space so
we could create a more intense scene and create a connotation of
our character being trapped.
During the duration of a filming there were a few issues that I faced
as cinematographer. One big issue was with the tracking dolly,
although discovering how to use it effectively prior to filming, the
tracking dolly was hard to transport to our set as there were so
many parts to eat it was also difficult ensemble in a steady position
as we had to find a terrain smooth enough for the track to flow
steadily over the track. Another issue we had filming outside, was
the general public, we often had to interrupt shots to accommodate
for people walking through the background of shots. Other than my
role of cinematographer I also casted all the characters within our
production; on the day before filming, one of our actors sprained
there ankle and was therefore was unable to attend filming so last
minute we had to switch the original roles around and cast our
director Sophie into the role that originally our (now) protagonist
Christine was meant to play as she took on the main role or injured
actor was supposed to play. However, we were able to overcome
this issue quickly as Christine is a remarkable actor who willingly
took on the role and as a result we just had to rectify our coursework
ensuring we had changed the name, gender and roles of the
required characters. Other than these few issues and needing to refilm, our production did not face too many issues and any issues we
did face we were able to overcome as a group.
Overall, I enjoyed the role of cinematographer, it taught me how to
be organised and how vital planning thoroughly prior to things is, as
things such as the shot list meant that we could go into production
knowing our concept and use our time effectively. It also helped me
learn how to take on orders as Im used to taking on the more
leading role of director. Lastly, it taught me how important
communication is through our weekly meetings allowing us to plan
and catch up with how our production was progressing. I think I took
on the role well proven by the variety of shots I was able to
construct and how messages could be communicated through these
shots in our final production.